Since I’ve started working part time from home, I have received the precious gift of more free time. Each day, I prayerfully try to be wise with my time management and spend time doing productive things throughout the day—quiet time, cleaning, working out, spending quality time with friends, and I also try to squeeze in a little work along the way.
Then there are days, like today, where all of a sudden the day has vanished and I think, “What have I done?” Then I recall…watched Regis and Kelly, The View, Ellen, scoured random blogs for about three hours, ate two sugar cookies for breakfast, stalked random people on Facebook, and pathetically tried to regain my focus along the way.
Today, I resolved to redeem parts of the day by spending some time in prayer with the Lord and asking Him once again to help me with my time management. The minute I made that decision, instead of wasting time, I found myself doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, organizing our living room, and anything else that could be considered “productive” to avoid opening my Bible.
Why is it that some days, entering the presence of God feels more like a chore than my hearts desire? Sometimes my heart just isn’t in it.
Finally around 3:00, after I had wasted time doing everything else I could possibly think of, I reluctantly sat down at the table and opened up my journal to pray. I started praying, but I didn’t know what to pray. I finally put my face down on the table and said, “God, I’m just not feeling it. I want to feel You, but I just can’t.” In that stillness, I felt my heart slowly begin to revive little by little.
When I finally put my head up, I opened my Bible. (I had attempted to open my Bible before I started praying, but I wasn’t getting anywhere) After I had prayed, confessed, and cried out, all of a sudden my eyes were moving, the pages were turning, and before I knew it, 45 minutes had flown by! I think a little extra motivation was reading Proverbs 13:4, "The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied."
I know that all of us face seasons where we don’t “feel God” or our hearts just aren’t in it. I also know that it’s not always resolved by laying our heads on the kitchen table for fifteen minutes. BUT, I think that when we’re faced with these challenges, instead of avoiding God, we need to tell Him. We need to pour out our complaints before Him, pray for faithful hearts, and believe that God will respond and lift us out of our pits—no matter how far down we’ve fallen.
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” Psalm 40:1-2 (NIV)
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart…I WILL be found by you.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
Lord, how I long to be a faithful steward of Your time. Even when I don’t feel like it, I long to be a woman who diligently seeks after You. My time is yours and I pray that I will use every second in a way that is honoring and pleasing to You!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Bringing Us To God
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,”
1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)
1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)
“When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
Luke 23:33-38 (NIV)
The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
Luke 23:33-38 (NIV)
Christ Jesus, I can’t even begin to comprehend the price that you paid for me. You endured so much pain, suffering, and mocking to bring me to God. Even in the midst of being crucified, you ask God to forgive those crucifying you—how loving, merciful, and gracious you are when we don’t even come close to deserving it. Jesus, I praise you for the sacrifice that you made! I am so grateful for your unconditional love—you love me so much that you chose to die for me! Jesus, today, with all that I am, may my heart be set on loving you. You are all that I need.
Monday, March 9, 2009
We are His
Last week, I was reading Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost for His Highest” and on March 4th he writes, “Always consider that ‘you are not your own’ (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are His.”
These words really struck me, because there are so many times that I feel like I’m living my life for me and I don’t want to share the control or be inconvenienced.
Chambers also references Acts 20:4 when Paul says, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.” Paul saw his purpose on earth to faithfully administer the calling that God had given to him and proclaim the message of the Gospel everywhere he went. Nothing else mattered.
I think it can be so easy to try to fit Christ into a life that we’ve created for ourselves and say, “Jesus, I believe in you and I want to delight in your blessings; but I need you to fit in this box and not mess things up. Sometimes we don’t want out lives to be disrupted by the call of God on our lives.
Who are we to tell Jesus where to fit?
Jesus doesn’t owe us anything. He died to bring us closer to God out of His incredible love for us. We have been saved by grace and grace alone. Ephesians 2 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast.” It goes on to say, “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared us in advance to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
We belong to God, we are His workmanship, and we each have a purpose. Instead of trying to fit God into our lives, how can we become a part of His life? How can we partner with Him and live our lives in such a way that we are bringing Him glory and fulfilling our divine calling?
It’s a lot easier said than done, but I’m pretty sure the best way to start is through prayer…
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. "
Ephesians 1:18-19
These words really struck me, because there are so many times that I feel like I’m living my life for me and I don’t want to share the control or be inconvenienced.
Chambers also references Acts 20:4 when Paul says, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.” Paul saw his purpose on earth to faithfully administer the calling that God had given to him and proclaim the message of the Gospel everywhere he went. Nothing else mattered.
I think it can be so easy to try to fit Christ into a life that we’ve created for ourselves and say, “Jesus, I believe in you and I want to delight in your blessings; but I need you to fit in this box and not mess things up. Sometimes we don’t want out lives to be disrupted by the call of God on our lives.
Who are we to tell Jesus where to fit?
Jesus doesn’t owe us anything. He died to bring us closer to God out of His incredible love for us. We have been saved by grace and grace alone. Ephesians 2 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast.” It goes on to say, “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared us in advance to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
We belong to God, we are His workmanship, and we each have a purpose. Instead of trying to fit God into our lives, how can we become a part of His life? How can we partner with Him and live our lives in such a way that we are bringing Him glory and fulfilling our divine calling?
It’s a lot easier said than done, but I’m pretty sure the best way to start is through prayer…
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. "
Ephesians 1:18-19
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